Accidentally On Purpose
by ZiggleexFan
Summary: Dolph Ziggler caught himself in a runt when he fell in love with his ex-on-screen girlfriend, AJ Lee. Will he be able to "shake off" his feelings?
1. Introduction

**Hi everyone! I've been on fanfiction since like, forever! I just now decided to make my very own account dedicated to the wonderful ship that is Zigglee! I personally enjoy all of the Zigglee writers out there and so it inspired me to make my very own story. This is sorta my debut fic, so please, criticism, suggestions, tips, etc. are all welcomed with open arms!**

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He didn't know when it all exactly happened. He didn't know when exactly he thought her smile lit up the whole room. He didn't know when exactly their on-screen make outs started meaning something more to him. He didn't know when he fell in love with the self-proclaimed geek goddess.

Was it when they started traveling together? Was it when they started having dinner together? Maybe it was somewhere between the flirtatious tweets and late night texts about how to make their on-screen stable even greater than it already was. Or maybe he was just the fool that fell in love with his co-worker.

He fell in love with a girl who was paid to be his girlfriend on TV and make out with him. He had read too much into something. She saw him as nothing more than a colleague.

He couldn't believe that he, of all people, was fawning over the petite brunette. Nick Nemeth; better known as Dolph Ziggler to the WWE Universe, was in love with the wildly popular Diva's Champion, AJ Lee.

He remembered when she had first won the butterfly belt. He had never felt more proud. She was always the one cheering him on, and it was his turn.

She had always gone on about how tacky she thought the championship was-and well, she was right. The butterfly belt was _extremely _tacky, but he knew just how proud she felt holding it. It was fourteen years in the making for April. She came backstage directly after. She wept, and wept, and wept. He listened to every word she had to say.

After all the time they spent together, he couldn't help but feel like no one else deserved it more. She had worked for this since she was twelve years old. That was one of the many things that drew his attention to her in the first place.

They'd always have that in common with each other. Their love for the business. He couldn't help but find that attractive about her- one of the many things he should add. April and Nick shared that bond; they'd always have that bond. They've both dreamed of being in that very ring since they were kids.

Though he still couldn't pin point the exact moment he had thought of their friendship more than just a mutual love for the business or being friendly colleagues, and truthfully, that's what kept him up at night. He couldn't remember when he fell for her beautiful smile or started finding her familiar strawberry scent intoxicating. It sort of scared him what this woman was capable of doing to him. She was so completely oblivious that she had held his heart on the very tip of her fingers.

All of her little quirks that she was so insecure about and hated, well, he absolutely adored them. AJ was so completely different from any other woman he had ever went out with or been with. Maybe that's why none of those relationships ever worked out. She was all he needed all along.

The more he thought about how close the two had been before, the more he had felt so embarrassed about falling in love with her. Not because being in love with her was somehow embarrassing, but the fact that people just strangely started noticing is what got to him the most. Once he had figured out his feelings for the Divas Champion, it was hard to contain them. It was getting harder and harder not to steal a glance over at the brunette once in a while; it was hard to just act like her supportive co-worker when he wanted to be so much more to her. Dolph started noticing how translucent his feelings were becoming.

At first, it was just Big E that was calling him out for it. Though his on-screen bodyguard already had his suspicions, it was the reason Dolph even had to thoroughly sort out his feelings for AJ in the first place. After he was finally honest with not only himself but Big E as well, he was constantly getting glares and grins from the 300 pound powerhouse every time he caught him giving her googly eyes.

The second person to grow suspicions about his current state of feelings about the New Jersey native was one of his fonder friends, Zack Ryder. Dolph had unsuccessfully tried to deny his feelings. He had finally fessed up and admitted his feelings once he realized that his best friend was one of the few people that knew him like the back of his hand. But geez…was it really that obvious?

She laughed at all of his jokes. Not only that, but she was able to keep up with him. He strangely found that attractive in a woman. Even though she would always tell him how incredibly lame her tweets were, he couldn't help but find himself laughing out loud about some of them. Having a quick-witted girl with a sense of humor similar to his own was at the top of his checklist for becoming his girlfriend. AJ had fit into that mold perfectly.

_That was the problem._

He constantly found himself trying to worm AJ into his life. Thoughts would flood his mind about her periodically. She always found a way to sneak herself into his brain and wreck with his thoughts. It was almost as if you were able to look into a dictionary and find AJ's name listed next to his dream girl description.

Four months later and he still found himself longing for her. Still wanting to feel her soft pink lips meshed with his. Dolph still wanted to feel her soft raven hair flow through his fingers. He realized how much of a love sick puppy he sounded like when he let April completely take over his mind. He almost felt sorry for himself.

He hadn't even spoken to her in that duration of time. _Four fucking months. _It was his fault she now avoided him at all costs. He probably came across as desperate, but love does weird things to you, doesn't it?

It makes you suddenly outburst what you've been trying so hard to contain inside of you for the past three months.

He tried making up excuses for the fact that he had fallen so hard for the spunky diva.

_She played my girlfriend on TV._

_I'm paid to make out with her each and every night._

_We're with each other 24/7, it's only natural I have feelings for her._

No.

He was just the fool that fell in love with his co-worker.

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**I know this chapter wasn't very lengthy or exciting for that matter, but I really wanted to make an introduction chapter just so you could get an idea of what's going to be happening in this story. Next chapter will be full length **_**and **_**you'll find out what happened between AJ and Dolph. I'm really excited to start this story. I'm not experienced with writing; I'm just giving a go out at it. So please, constructive criticism is welcomed! **


	2. Shattered Dreams December 20th, 2013

**Hey everybody! I wanted to thank you all for the kind reviews you left for chapter one! I'm extremely nervous about this chapter because this is where the story is officially starting. Just like the majority of this fic, this chapter will be in Dolph's perspective; you'll also get an idea with what happened between Dolph & AJ back in August. So, as always, constructive criticism, suggestions, tips, reviews, etc. are always welcomed!**

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Being stuck in Corpus Christi, Texas just a few days before the holidays wasn't exactly an advantage for the former World Champion. Truth be told, Dolph just wanted to be home in Phoenix and drown himself in his own misery and tune out the holidays. His parents were spending Christmas at St. Pete's Beach in Florida while his brothers would be spending the gift-giving holiday with their friends.

Dolph could've made plans. He had friends. Lots of friends. Dolph just wasn't feeling the holiday cheer this year. His career was not what it should have been and it made him sour just thinking about it.

Right around this time last year, his future had seemed bright, almost promising.

There was the recently formed trio with AJ, Big E, and himself. He even still had the briefcase.

Hell, he even got to hold championship gold in 2013. Dolph couldn't quite understand what made the company drop the ball on him this year. He had started off the year in a good position, his future in the WWE seemed strong and stable.

He started off the year being in matches with John Cena and ended it jobbing to guys like Damien Sandow.

Not that he was down crediting anyone, but he was a harder worker than anyone else in that damn locker room. He had worked so hard to not be known as 'Nicky' from the Spirit Squad and god dammit, he should still be World Heavyweight Champion.

Dolph was awoken from his thoughts when he heard the locker room door creak open. Looking over his shoulder, he was relieved it was Zack. He didn't know if he could even stand to be in the room if it was someone like Cena, Randy, Bryan, or Punk. _Especially _Punk.

"Hey." Dolph managed to throw at the Long Island native.

"_Even though we beat you- because we're just that good-whatevs. You're still holding true to that 'whip my butt' promise, right?" Dolph flashed a grin over at his former on-screen girlfriend._

_AJ had placed a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. _

_That infectious and adorable laugh that he had so desperately wanted to hear all day. He had probably sounded like a love-struck idiot, which he was highly aware of. _

_The two would no longer be traveling together or appear on television together. It had been the best 8 months of his career. He, AJ, and Big E had all grown to be very close and he was glad to call them two of his best friends in the business. _

_Particularly him and AJ. _

_It was funny how that worked out. The two were the complete opposite of each other, and yet their personalities seemed to complement each other so well. _

_They always joked about how they had 'hated' each other before they were paired up to be in a storyline together. They had actually just had a misjudgment of each other and were more alike than they had configured. _

_Once Dolph heard AJ converse about comic books and video games, it was enough for him to surmise that she was the biggest nerd on the planet. _

_He now finds her knowledge about the nerdy community to be one of his favorite qualities about her. She was just so proud of being unique and different. That was something he prided himself in as well. _

_Once AJ had discontinued her laughing fit, her brown eyes had met the gaze of his blue eyes for a split second before she ducked her head down to pull back a strand of her raven locks behind her ear._

"_Yeah so, anyway…uh…hey, do you have a sec?" Dolph cleared his throat suddenly changing to a serious tone. It wasn't every day he was stumbling over his words, but who wouldn't be when they were about to make a confession that could have an actual impact on their life? _

"Dolph."

"_Of course! You're not planning on capturing me and forever holding me hostage, are you?" The current Divas Champion let a tiny roar of giggles escape free from her throat as she let her fingernails roam free of her recently disheveled hair. _

"Dolph…man….are you even listening to me?"

The drum of Zack's voice was enough to startle the former World Champion as he tugged on the loose strands of his bleach blonde hair.

"Uh yeah yeah, sorry, I was just….thinking. "

The thinking excuse seemed a lot less embarrassing than the 'yeah I was kind of hallucinating a flashback of a girl who doesn't love me back' speech

Zack's eyebrows were furrowed and his expression read confusion, but it soon softened and he continued on to what sounded like rambling to the show off before his inner thoughts were interrupted.

"So, I know that you've been kind of down in the dumps about this whole 'career in the toilet' thing, and about 'you know who', so I thought-"

"Look man, I appreciate you coming in here to talk to me, but I'm just not feeling that well. I'm not up for whatever it is that you're suggesting. "Dolph intervened as he got up from the bench and got a hold of his gym bag that contained the clothes he had wrestled in previously.

He had contemplated on apologizing and trying to go along with whatever his friend had in mind, but the better half seemed to overbear him-as it did most of the time, and ultimately led Dolph to get the hell out of there before he completely broke down remembering when his life changed for the worst.

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It had seemed like sitting in his hotel room and drowning in his own self-pity had become a nightly ritual.

It was honestly pathetic and Dolph knew it.

Maybe the down spiral of his career would be a lot more bearable if he had AJ by his side. Maybe if he was able to call her his then maybe, just maybe, he'd be okay.

_God dammit. There you go again, Dolph._

He couldn't understand why he had continued to mope about a girl who clearly didn't feel the same way. It was almost laughable if you think about it. His character always boasted about how incredibly good looking he was. He had abs of a Greek god, and he could pull of bleach blonde hair because he was just that _damn _good.

Some of the cockiness from Dolph Ziggler had translated over to Nick Nemeth. Is that why he was so upset? He couldn't let his ego aside for two damn seconds and accept the fact not every girl thought so highly of him?

_No. That's not it._

It was the reason he had been repeating over and over again inside of his brain that had started to sound like a broken record.

The reason he can't get over AJ freaking Lee is because he's head over heels in love with her. He got his hopes up too much. He expected everything to be like a fairytale and that she'd suddenly jump into his arms when he told her his true feelings, and they'd live happily ever after.

But that's all they were. Just tales. Things you'd read in a children's book. In real life, things like that didn't happen.

In real life, the princess doesn't always run off with Prince Charming. Sometimes she runs off with the Big Bad Wolf instead.

It wasn't like it was _his _fault either. It wasn't fair of her to shut him out of her life. Okay so, maybe she wasn't completely at fault for them not talking anymore, but how could they after the way she reacted? It could've been a lot worse, but it could've gone completely better.

For instance, she could've responded with something sappy about how much she loves him too and again, they'd get that fairytale ending.

Maybe he had just watched one too many chick flicks to believe in that mumbo jumbo. That's all it was.

But god damn, could Nicholas Sparks stop making unrealistic outcomes of being in love?

Some part of him knew even if he had come home with championship gold tonight, he still would've found a way to think about AJ.

Right at this moment, he wished he was able to hold her in his arms. He wanted to seep his figures into her brunette locks and breathe in the vanilla and strawberry scent as she caressed the nape of his neck.

He didn't know if that should be classified as a romantic thought or just a down right creepy one.

A man, who claimed to steal the show and be suave and cool with the ladies, was lying in bed gushing over a girl who was a fan of the Pokémon franchise and stayed home every Saturday night.

Love did weird things to a man.

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**Okay, so I intended for this chapter to be much longer but, I wanted to get this out before the clock stroked midnight so the ending is pretty rushed. Anyways, while in the process of writing this chapter I decided to make you all suffer and make you wait a few chapters to find out what happened between Dolph & AJ. As always, reviews are always appreciated (including negative ones. I'm a beginner so constructive criticism is welcomed!) I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!**


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